Mythomania: Tales of Our Times - with Peter Conrad

Despite our culture’s proclaimed respect for scientific reason, we are no less bedazzled and bedevilled by myth than our remote ancestors. Join author Peter Conrad for an in conversation event as he examines the enduring place of myth in contemporary culture and society.

Roland Barthes first examined the mythical resonances of consumer products in the 1950s. Far from being demystified, consumerism has since morphed into a universal religion, its compulsory ritual of shopping essential to our economic survival. Myth has also invaded the political realm, as terrorists brandish black flags and recite theological mantras as they martyr themselves.

Drawing on his new book Mythomania and his much-praised BBC Radio 4 series, 21st Century Mythologies, Peter exposes the absurdity and occasional insanity of our godforsaken, demon-haunted contemporary culture. He casts his brilliant beam upon subjects from the Queen to the Kardashians, via Banksy, Nando’s, vaping, the vogue of the cronut, the mushroom-like rise of Dubai, the launch of the Large Hadron Collider, the growth of the Pacific garbage patch…